[Coral-List] New PNAS paper: Angels and parrots structure sponge communities on Caribbean reefs

[Pawlik, Joseph]

Hi all,

I'm pleased to alert you to this week's cover paper in PNAS from my group showing that predation by angelfishes and parrotfishes structure sponge communities on Caribbean reefs.  This paper is important because it shows the effects of predation at the community-level across an entire biogeographic region - something that is rarely done in ecological studies.  It also reinforces the link between overfishing and coral reef decline.
http://www.pnas.org/
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/11/4151

NSF coverage at:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=130507

On a related development, a video entry on our previous report showing the effect of predation in manipulative experiments on Conch Reef, Florida, received 4th place and an "honorable mention" in the NSF-sponsored Ocean 180 Video Challenge.  You can see the video at this link:
 http://youtu.be/ObpHfasn7_k

 Regards,

Joe
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Joseph R. Pawlik, Professor,
Dept. of Biology and Marine Biology
UNCW Center for Marine Science
5600 Marvin K Moss Lane
Wilmington, NC  28409   USA
pawlikj at uncw.edu<mailto:pawlikj at uncw.edu>; Office:(910)962-2377; Cell:(910)232-3579
Website: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/index.html
PDFs: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/pubs2.html
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